Coughlin's message for Giants: 'Shut up and play'

The recently, and conspicuously, silent Tom Coughlin finally opened his mouth between his rosy cheeks again and had a succinct message for his trash-talking Giants team: “Shut up and play.”

The Giants head coach had some choice words for his loud-mouthed team Monday — a day after its season was all but ended by the Dallas Cowboys — and after the home Giants spent a full week leading up to Sunday's game goading the visiting team.

“Talk is cheap,” a clearly annoyed Coughlin said. “Play the game. I don’t see anything that gets accomplished by the verbalization part of it. We’ve never been a team that has been one to provide bulletin-board material.”

Puffing out their chests — thanks to a four-game winning streak built on a fortunate stretch against mediocre quarterbacks — the Giants were at their brashest in months. Jason Pierre-Paul guaranteed a “bloodbath,” and Terrell Thomas promised a win, even telling the Cowboys they could put that guarantee up on their bulletin board.

All that did was rile Dallas so much that defensive tackle Jason Hatcher smeared fake blood onto his face after the game to mock JPP. And by Monday, Coughlin exploded.

“‘Talk is cheap, play the game’ is my policy and I, quite frankly, was unaware of the two (guarantees) that were made and people made a big deal about,” said Coughlin, who added he would mention his disdain for trash talk in a team meeting Wednesday. “I don’t believe in that stuff. I think you play the game.

“I understand there was a little bit of it last week and I don’t believe in any of that,” he added.

Still, on Monday, there was the Giants' defensive team captain, Justin Tuck, delivering more of exactly what Coughlin doesn't believe in. A Twitter post showed Tuck's two Super Bowl rings on a pair of fingers, with a finger in the middle conveniently left bare.

“And for all the cowboy fan on my TL,” he tweeted.

But the rest of the Giants seemed humbled by the heartbreaking loss, admitting that Dallas threw them into the un-recyclable bin. 

“They got the win, they beat us twice this year, so they have the right to talk trash,” said Cullen Jenkins. “You can’t get irritated with it now, you should have done something about it during the games.”

“They won the game, they have the right to be as happy as they want to be,” added safety Antrel Rolle.